Away From It All
by Eyesxofxzero
Summary: After a wish, Harry gets to go on a 'vacation'. He gets to meet new people, learn a new kind of magic, and prepare for the war, while being back for the start of the school year. OOtP spoilers.


Disclaimer: Anything you can recognize isn't mine. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------**Away From It All**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 1: First Year--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry Potter, the Boy-who-Lived, couldn't take it anymore. For the past weeks, he had been mourning for his godfather's death, as well as the prophecy his esteeme headmaster had dropped on him.

He had a lot to grieve for, a lot to try to make sense of, and no time to do it. Maybe Dumbledore expected him to come back to Hogwarts all cheerfull and happy, like nothing happened, and go back to being his weapon, his little Golden Boy.

At a point during the summer, Harry had actually considered suicide, but after thinking about it, he realized this wasn't the right choice. He had to make a choice between what was right and what was easy.

Killing himself would only be cowardly. He didn't want to leave his friend to die at Voldemort's hand, didn't want to condemn them because of his weakness. B

ut what should he do? Voldemort had about 50 years of magical knowledge, and he had 6 years of wizarding education under his belt. In addition, the Dark Lord had performed many rituals to enhance his magical power, to the point where Harry had no chance.

Or that's what he believed. How did Dumbledore expect him to win, or even hurt Voldemort without any training? The old man could have done so many things to prepare him, but instead decided to leave him to rot at number 4, Privet Drive, with the Dursleys.

He was just out of his league when compared to Voldemort. He just wished he had more time, that he could get prepared. Hell, he'd even take books, anything to help him get a bit more prepared. But something like that happening sounded highly unlikely with Dumbledore in charge.

As those thoughts crossed his head, he felt a pull, similar to a portkey, only much stronger, pulling him from his room, felt a wrenching feeling, and closed his eyes, trying not to panic.

The last portkey that had taken him by surprise had brought him to Voldemort, and he could only hope this one, even if it felt strange, would not bring him to the Dark Lord or any Deat Eathers.

He couldn't have been farther from the truth. As the spinning continued, he couldn't help but pass out, hoping wherever he was going, he would not be in danger.

As he started waking up, he felt a slight breeze caressing his face, sun warming up his face, heard the soft waves in some water, and felt the soft grass between his fingers. At least he wasn't chained up in some dungeon. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a bright blue sky, with a few clouds running through it. He slowly sat up, feeling a bit dizzy as he did so. Where could he be?

'' I'm glad you're awake.'' said a voice from somewhere behind Harry.

As he turned around, his hand automatically went went for his pocket, reaching for a wand that wasn't there. The man before him didn't appear threatening, but Harry didn't want to take any chances.

He had snow white hair, remindind Harry a bit of Dumbledore, except the mysterious man kept it shorter, and it went down to his shoulders. He had purple silver eyes, something Harry found unusual, even for the wizarding world. He had a muscular build, and looked to be around 30 years old, even though he had silvery white hair.

''Who are you?'' was the first thing that came out of Harry's mouth.

''My name's Alphonse. I'm the one that brought you here.''

'' And where is here?''

''Well, this place doesn't really have a name. I guess you could call it a limbo of sorts. Here, time doesn't exist. You don't need to sleep and you don't to eat or drink.''

''Why did you bring me here?''

''There are many reasons. You needed time to cope and to train. Isn't that what you just wished for?''

''How do you know that?''

''I have my ways.'' Alphonse replied with a smirk.

Soon, Alphonse launched into a long description of what the place they were in was, who he was, and answered many of Harry's questions.

''So, basically, you're giving me one year here to do whatever i want, you send me to some other world for two years to train and learn, then you're pulling me back for another year, before sending me back to the wizarding world to defeat Voldemort.''

''Exactly. Well, I'll leave you to it now. See you in one year!'' said Alphonse cheerfully.

''Wait-'' Harry started, but it was too late.

He looked around at the grassy field, with a lake nearby, and sighed.

_'What the hell could I do?' _Harry asked himself.

_One year later_

Harry was currently sitting quietly in the grass, waiting for Alphonse to arrive. During that one year, had changed a lot. With so much time on his hand, he had taken up some physical work, as well as trying to master Occlumency on his own from the few he knew about it.

His mental shields were pretty strong in his opinion, but he wouldn't know for sure until he was faced with a legilimens, but that probably would wait until he went back to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore would no doubt try to find out from his mind how he changed so much in a short amount of time.

On the physical side, he had gained weight and height, even though he was still much shorter than Ron was. He no longer looked severely malnourished, just short. He had built up muscle, and had perfected his physical fighting, simply because he didn't have his wand, and that no one would expect him to fight hand-to-hand with a Death Eather.

Apart from that, he had been doing lots of thinking, inventing battle strategies he could use against the Dark Lord's forces, and had managed to get over Sirius's death. After all, he knew his godfather wouldn't want him to be so sad over his death. He'd want Harry to be happy and have fun.

He had done no magic during that whole year, and he missed it a bit, but he somehow knew he'd practice it in his coming two year trip to another world.

That was a good resume of all that had happened over the year. No discovery of a special power, no extreme emotional outburst during which he destroyed things.

As he was looking back to the year that he had passed, Alphonse appeared before him in a puff of smoke.

''Harry! You look better, my boy.''

The 'my boy' reminded him a bit of Dumbledore, but Aplhonse was so different from the old headmaster. Instead, he decided to ignore it, and continued the conversation like nothing had happened.

''Thank you. I feel much better.''

''Well, eager to finally get out of here?''

''Yes, even though I enjoyed my time here''

''Remember, magic may not exist where you are going, and if it does, it might exist under a different form. Be carefull, have fun, make friends, and try to find a girl!''

As Harry started interrupting, he felt the pull he had felt the first time he had come to this place. He could only wish he'd learn something that could be useful to him in the war.

A/N: Hope you liked it. I probably won't update all that often, with school and all, but I'll try. I know it's a really short chapter, but I'll try to make them longer as I go.


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